It's your freshman year at Blackmore University. You try to leave your past behind but small things keep coming back to haunt you. You slowly become in the friend group with Tara, Mindy, Annika, Chad, Quinn, and Ethan. Oh, Ethan. He was the only per...
Life's too short to be lying to yourself. You liked Ethan. Luckily today, y'all had a date scheduled. It was painfully obvious Ethan was into Tara so you needed to spice things up. You didn't want it to seem like you were trying to hard. Especially since this is Ethan you're trying to impress. You keep it casual, but spice the fit up with jewelry and a bag you "borrowed" from Quinn.
While getting ready Quinn arises from her sleep, yawning. "You getting ready for the brunch?" She asks while eyeing her bag. You give her a pleading look and she nods at you, giving you permission to use her bag. "Yeah, I am. When can I take him home?" She just shrugs. "We'll text you. It shouldn't be later than 3."
You wave a goodbye to Quinn who was getting out of bed. You grab his gift and note, then leave for his room. You knock on the door that Chad opens. "Speak of the devil," Chad grins. "Ethan! Chariot's arrived." Chad calls out to Ethan dressed with his classic polo and jeans. Ethan and Chad exchanged goodbyes and left you two standing on the door's porch. "What's that?" He asks, pointing to your bag. "You didn't think I forgot did you?" You ask and hold out the present. "Happy 19th Ethan!" He smiled big and looked surprised. "Holy shit.. I didn't expect anyone to remember. Thanks so much y/n." He pulled you in for a hug that you savored while it lasted. "Of course Ethan, how could I forget? We should get going I hear the place gets crowded on weekends." You say after pulling away.
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In your car he opened the gift and ended up putting the jacket on. It looked perfect with his polo, just as you'd predicted. The restaurant was packed so you and Ethan agreed to head to a small family owned bakery for brunch.
"You know, I'm not sure how I feel about birthdays." Ethan says on the walk to the bakery. "What do you mean?" You ask. "I don't know. It's just there's so much pressure for each year, y'know? New year's resolutions, and goals. And each year- I never reach those goals." You nod while taking big steps, once again trying to keep up. "I get what you mean." You try to relate. "Do you have siblings? D-do people have high expectations for you a lot?" He asks. You scoff, "Complete opposite. I'm an only child," you look up at him while continuing to walk. "Everybody expects failure in me."
You both walk into the bakery scouring the shelves of pastries. "Why's that?" He asks confused and skeptical. "Past mistakes," you shrug it off.
You ordered for the two of y'all and sit. You got a classic breakfast: toast, eggs, sausage, and coffee. Ethan got chocolate croissants and water. "Can't just leave it like that, I'm intrigued." He asks you, interested in your story. "Why? I'm more interested in you." You try to make him forget about it. "What's up with your birthday philosophy?" He just shrugs. "When you're the youngest, you try to be like your older siblings. Like every year that goes by means you can be old too, but they also get older. I guess no matter how old I get, I never amount to him." You eat your eggs slowly, intrigued. "Your brother?" He nods. "Yeah, the one that died in a car crash. Now that I'm out of the way, what's up with you?" He asks raising an eyebrow wanting answers.
You trusted Ethan, but you didn't want to scare him away. You decided to water everything down for him, at least until you two got closer. You didn't want to blow it. "I actually used to live in New York," you start while looking down at your food to not make eye contact. "I was a babysitter for a while, to help my mom pay the bills. One day a bunch of kids got hurt and.. I don't know. I didn't try to hard to stop it. But it went by so fast, my instinct wasn't to stop it. It was to watch. I mean is that wrong?" When you looked back up at him he looked creepily intrigued. "I mean, what happened to the kids?" He asked raising an eyebrow. "D-doesn't matter," you stutter out. "All that matters is that everyone I knew disowned me and I lost all of my credibility. So, I moved away." He bites his croissant, "Huh." He leans in and sorts of whispered. "Y'know, let's keep this between us." His hot breath made you shiver a little when he whispered in your ear. "When my brother died, I was kind of glad. Which I know is like horrible. He's my brother and never did anything wrong but.. It kind of felt like now it's my time to shine." He leaned back in his seat. "I mean, my family's still in mourning, and I mourn with them but I mean, he kind of deserved what came to him."
When you both finished eating y'all walked out to take a walk around a park. You checked the clock, 2 pm, still no text. You were actually glad it was taking them so long, you got to spend more time with Ethan. "Hey Ethan, do you like horror movies?" He scoffs, "Hell no. I mean nothing against them but my brother was obsessed, and if we're going to have anything in common, it's not going to be movies." You nod, "That's valid." He turns his head to look at you. "You know, you're the only person who's wished me happy birthday today." You bit back the urge to tell him about his surprise. "Really?" You ask in a poor attempt to act surprised. "Not Chad? Not Tara?" He shakes his head.
"Nope. Hey can I tell you a secret?" You nod, "Of course." He smiles and laughs softly making you blush. "I used to really be into Tara." You try to act surprised even though it was kind of obvious. "Oh really? Used? Why not anymore?" He smiles and looks down while nervously playing with the zippers on his jacket. Thoughts ran through his head, memories of Chad telling him to stop being a pussy. "Cause I met someone else." He picks his eyes up and looks at you. The eye contact breaks when you get a text from Quinn that read, "We're done bring him home asap." You smile at him awkwardly, "You ready for me to take you back home?"
You two arrive at his room, and he uses his key to unlock the door. When the door opens, Tara, Mindy, Chad, Annika, and Quinn, yell out "Happy Birthday!" You turn to see Ethan with the biggest smile making your stomach melt. The room was decorated and there were drinks everywhere. Y'all walk in closing the door behind. Chad walks up and wraps his arm around Ethan who still was in shock. "Let's give it up for the birthday boy!"
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word count: 1200
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a note cause I have mixed feelings on this chapter. Tbh idrk if it was good or not and neither can I tell so i kinda want feedback on it 😭i watched Spree yesterday and it really fucked me up idk what it was but yeah. Sooo i just decided to write this but like i said i cant tell if it's good or not so lmk. tysm for reading though ❤️❤️
